Michael Sockwell v. Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 1 of 62

[PUBLISH]

In the

United States Court of Appeals

For the Eleventh Circuit

____________________

No. 23-13321

____________________

MICHAEL SOCKWELL,

Petitioner-Appellant,

versus

COMMISSIONER, ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF

CORRECTIONS,

Defendant-Appellee.

____________________

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Middle District of Alabama

D.C. Docket No. 2:13-cv-00913-WKW-KFP

____________________

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 2 of 62

2 Opinion of the Court 23-13321

Before LUCK, ABUDU, and WILSON, Circuit Judges.

WILSON, Circuit Judge:

Michael Sockwell was convicted of murder for pecuniary

gain and sentenced to death by the State of Alabama. Sockwell ap-

peals the district court’s denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition for

the writ of habeas corpus challenging his conviction. We hold that

the Alabama Supreme Court unreasonably applied clearly estab-

lished federal law as determined by the Supreme Court of the

United States. We also hold that Alabama violated Sockwell’s

Fourteenth Amendment equal protection rights under Batson v.

Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986), by using its peremptory strikes in a

discriminatory manner. Accordingly, we reverse the district

court’s ruling and direct the district court to issue a writ of habeas

corpus conditioned on Alabama’s right to retry Sockwell.

I. Factual Background

In March 1988, Isaiah Harris, a sheriff in Montgomery

County, was killed on his way into work. Harris’ wife, Louise, was

having an affair with Lorenzo McCarter. Louise asked McCarter

to find someone to kill Harris so that she could obtain insurance

benefit proceeds. McCarter recruited Sockwell and Alex Hood to

kill Harris for $100 and promised to pay more money upon com-

pletion of the murder.

On the night of the murder, McCarter, Hood, Freddie Peter-

son, and Sockwell were drinking together. According to Peterson,

they left Hood’s house to go to the Harrises’ subdivision and

waited until they received a message on a pager saying, “He’s

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 3 of 62

23-13321 Opinion of the Court 3

leaving now.” According to Peterson, Sockwell then took a shot-

gun and got out of the car near a stop sign, and McCarter drove to

a parking lot to wait. No one saw Sockwell shoot Harris, but when

he returned to the car, Sockwell suggested that he would get his

money. Sockwell testified that McCarter shot Harris, and that he

did not know that McCarter planned to kill Harris. Sockwell testi-

fied that he did not receive any money to kill Harris, but that he

had been given $50 for fixing a car.

II. Jury Trial

In 1988, an Alabama grand jury indicted Sockwell for capital

murder of Harris on the ground that Sockwell committed the mur-

der for pecuniary gain. Sockwell pleaded not guilty, and the case

went to trial in Montgomery County in 1990. In the venire, there

were fifty-five potential jurors. Of the fifty-five potential jurors,

fourteen were Black.1 Relevant to this appeal, the state trial court

asked each juror how much they had heard about the case and then

whether the juror could impose the death penalty.

After voir dire, thirteen potential jurors were struck for

cause, leaving forty-two potential jurors. Ten of those remaining

1 The capitalization of Black when referring “to Black people and often espe-

cially to African American people or their culture” is “now widely established”

in dictionaries and style guides. See, e.g., Black, Merriam-Webster.com,

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/black; see also The Chicago

Manual of Style ¶ 8.38 (17th ed. 2017). (“Black is increasingly capitalized when

referring to racial or ethnic identity.”); Assoc. Press, Explaining AP Style on Black

and White (July 20, 2020), https://apnews.com/article/archive-race-and-eth-

nicity-9105661462.

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 4 of 62

4 Opinion of the Court 23-13321

jurors were Black. Each side had fifteen preemptory strikes. Assis-

tant District Attorney Ellen Brooks struck seven of the thirty-two

remaining white jurors and eight of the ten remaining Black jurors.

Sockwell raised a Batson challenge and explained that the State, via

Brooks, used “over fifty percent of their strikes to strike [B]lacks”

and “in effect, struck eighty percent of all [B]lacks on the venire.”

Brooks then provided her reasons for striking the jurors, with most

of her answers relating to the jurors’ positions on the death penalty

or their exposure to pretrial publicity.

The focus of Sockwell’s Batson challenge was on the striking

of Eric Davis, a Black male. During his individual voir dire, the

state trial court asked

THE COURT: Have you heard or read from any

source anything about these circumstances that we’re

here today on?

PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: I’ve heard a little

something.

THE COURT: Okay. Have you heard or read or from

any other source gained any information as to

whether or not this defendant was guilty or not?

PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: Now, I had heard

something.

THE COURT: You haven’t?

PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: I had heard some-

thing.

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 5 of 62

23-13321 Opinion of the Court 5

THE COURT: What did you hear and where was it

from?

PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: Oh, I just, um, it

was something in the newspaper or something.

THE COURT: Well, what did you hear in the news-

paper or read in the newspaper?

PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: Well, I just, you

know, just heard talk about what they heard in the

newspaper or something like that. I didn’t read it for

myself.

THE COURT: From somebody you heard?

PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: Um-hum, yes.

THE COURT: When did you hear that?

PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: It was a while back.

THE COURT: About how long ago?

PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: Several months

ago.

THE COURT: Several months ago. Did you hear spe-

cifically about this defendant right here?

PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: No.

THE COURT: Okay. Do you remember what you

heard?

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 6 of 62

6 Opinion of the Court 23-13321

PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: Not exactly.

THE COURT: Can you remember it for me the best

you can?

PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: Um, the only thing

I recall is just, you know, um, listening at some of the

guys, you know that said they had read about it, you

know, the incident out on Troy Highway, stuff like

that, you know, what had happened and so forth, you

know.

THE COURT: Okay. Do you feel like you’d be able

to put aside whatever you heard some of the guys say

about what they had read and listen to the facts as

they come to you in Court and based on the facts and

those alone make a fair, honest, conscientious impar-

tial decision on guilt and non guilt based on those

facts and the law instructed by the Court?

PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: Yes, I can.

After this exchange, the court asked about Davis’ view of the

death penalty:

THE COURT: Because this is a capital case if we were

to reach a sentencing stage the possible punishments

on a capital offense are life imprisonment without pa-

role and the death penalty, so I need to ask you some

questions concerning this matter if we were to get to

the sentencing stage. Are you opposed to the death

penalty under any circumstances?

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 7 of 62

23-13321 Opinion of the Court 7

PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: No.

THE COURT: Okay. Are you for the death penalty in

all circumstances?

PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: Well, it could go ei-

ther way.

THE COURT: Okay. You think you could follow

your oath and listen to the instructions of the Court

and –

PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: Yes, sir. Fair

enough to listen to the trial and then come up with a

verdict.

THE COURT: Okay. Thank you.

When considering Sockwell’s Batson motion after voir dire,

the state trial court asked Brooks to explain why she chose to strike

the fifteen jurors that she did. As it relates to Davis, Brooks stated

that Davis “was extremely vague to the Court’s questions about

what he had heard” about pretrial publicity. Brooks explained that

Davis could not remember what he heard. After this, Sockwell

sought to obtain Brooks’ notes and questionnaires that she referred

to when answering the trial court’s questions. The state trial court

denied that request but allowed Sockwell to keep questioning

Brooks about the strike, in which she stated:

Davis, according to my notes, is a [B]lack male, ap-

proximately twenty-three years of age, which would

put him very close to the same race, sex, and age of

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 8 of 62

8 Opinion of the Court 23-13321

the defendant. He had said to the Court that he heard

a little something. The Court questioned him further

and he finally said well, I heard it from the paper or

something. The Court questioned him further. He

was very vague and unclear in his answer. The Court

asked him more about it and he said well, some peo-

ple were talking about it. I didn’t actually read it. He

could not remember what had been said nor anything

about -- anything further about those. His answer to

the death penalty did not give me a lot of clues either

way as to how he felt. In fact, I think the words he

used were I could go either way.

Sockwell asked Brooks if there were white jurors that she

did not strike who had heard something about the case but did not

really remember what they heard. Brooks said she would not char-

acterize what was said by other jurors that way. After brief argu-

ment from Sockwell, the state trial court denied the Batson motion.

Before trial, Sockwell renewed his Batson challenge and ex-

plained that

[Brooks] gave no reason, no [articulable] reason, and

I submit to you that she can give no reason. . . . And

I also call to the Court’s attention the fact that on the

news last night Mr. McPhillips says that this prosecu-

tor, in the last case she tried, in Sims, used fourteen of

her strikes in the same fashion. . . . [W]e’ve got a pat-

tern and practice by the D.A.’s office of excluding

[B]lacks for reasons like chewing gum, not dressing

properly and being in the wrong neighborhood.

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 9 of 62

23-13321 Opinion of the Court 9

The state trial court again denied the motion.

The jury found Sockwell guilty and recommended a sen-

tence of life imprisonment by a vote of seven to five. But the judge

overrode the recommendation and imposed the death penalty.

III. Procedural History

Sockwell appealed to the Alabama Court of Criminal Ap-

peals (ACCA), which affirmed Sockwell’s conviction and death sen-

tence. Relevant to this appeal, the ACCA found that the state trial

court’s denial of the Batson motion was not clearly erroneous. Sock-

well v. State, 675 So. 2d 4, 20 (Ala. Crim. App. 1993). The ACCA

explained that Davis’ “race was part of the reason for striking him”

but that Davis’ vague responses as “to what information about the

case and from where he had received information about the case,

is a sufficiently race-neutral reason for a peremptory challenge.” Id.

Sockwell appealed. A divided Alabama Supreme Court af-

firmed the ACCA—holding its conclusion about Sockwell’s Batson

challenge was correct but “its rationale was not.” Ex parte Sockwell,

675 So. 2d 38, 41 (Ala. 1995). The court explained it did not agree

with the ACCA “that the prosecutor’s opening remark identifying

[Davis] as a [B]lack man was given as a reason for striking him from

the venire.” Id. at 40. Instead, in the “context of the entire ex-

change,” the prosecutor’s identification of Davis as a Black male

“was merely a descriptive identification of the veniremember

based on the prosecutor’s notes.” Id. “When the prosecutor gave

the reasons for striking a veniremember, either white or [B]lack,

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 10 of 62

10 Opinion of the Court 23-13321

she first prefaced her remarks by stating the venire member’s race

and sex.” Id.

The court found that “[t]he only reasons the prosecutor gave

for striking [Davis] were his vagueness and lack of candor in stating

what he had already heard about the trial, from what source he has

gotten this information, and whether he could be willing to recom-

mend the death penalty.” Id. The court specifically disagreed with

the ACCA’s logic that “a non-race-neutral reason given for a per-

emptory strike [would] ‘cancel out’ a race-based reason.” Id. at 41.

Instead, the Alabama Supreme Court held that “the mere mention

of race . . . does not necessarily establish that a peremptory strike

was based on a racially motivated reason and was the product of

purposeful discrimination.” Id.

In December 2013, Sockwell filed his habeas petition in the

Middle District of Alabama, asserting his Batson claim. Ten years

later, the district court denied Sockwell’s request for relief. Sockwell

v. Hamm, No. 2:13-CV-913-WKW, 2023 WL 6377645, at *1 (M.D.

Ala. Sept. 29, 2023). The court found the strike of Davis “problem-

atic” but noted that the Alabama Supreme court could reasonably

conclude that Brooks’ “racial comparison was incidental, surplus-

age, or simply an extemporaneous, if ill-advised, descriptive obser-

vation that Davis and [Sockwell] were of the same race, sex, and

age, but that this observation conveyed no particular animus to-

ward any of those traits.” Id. at *18. The court also found that

nothing in the Alabama Supreme Court’s opinion showed that it

had not considered all relevant circumstances, and the Alabama

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 11 of 62

23-13321 Opinion of the Court 11

Supreme Court did not unreasonably apply Batson’s third step. Id.

at *19–24. Because Sockwell made a substantial showing of the de-

nial of a constitutional right, the district court granted a certificate

of appealability as to whether Alabama exercised its peremptory

challenge of Davis in a racially discriminatory manner. Id. at *49.

Sockwell timely appealed.

IV. Standard of Review

The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act

(AEDPA) governs our review of the Alabama Supreme Court’s Bat-

son analysis. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254. AEDPA generally establishes a

“highly deferential” standard for reviewing a state court’s Batson

rulings. Lee v. Comm’r, Ala. Dep’t of Corr., 726 F.3d 1172, 1192, 1207

(11th Cir. 2013).

“If we determine that AEDPA deference does not apply [to

the state court’s Batson analysis], we must undertake a de novo re-

view of the claim.” Adkins v. Warden, Holman CF, 710 F.3d 1241,

1250 (11th Cir. 2013).

V. Applicable Law

In Batson, the Supreme Court ruled that “the Equal Protec-

tion Clause forbids the prosecutor [from] challeng[ing] potential ju-

rors solely on account of their race or on the assumption that

[B]lack jurors as a group will be unable impartially to consider the

State’s case against a [B]lack defendant.” 476 U.S. at 89. Batson

“stressed a basic equal protection point: In the eyes of the Consti-

tution, one racially discriminatory peremptory strike is one too

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 12 of 62

12 Opinion of the Court 23-13321

many.”2 Flowers v. Mississippi, 588 U.S. 284, 298 (2019). Batson, de-

cided in 1986, was established federal law at the time of Sockwell’s

trial in 1988 and when the Alabama Supreme Court decided Sock-

well’s direct appeal in 1995.

Batson established a three-step inquiry to evaluate the pros-

ecutor’s use of peremptory strikes:

First, a defendant must make a prima facie showing

that a peremptory challenge has been exercised on

the basis of race. Second, if that showing has been

made, the prosecution must offer a race-neutral basis

for striking the juror in question. Third, in light of

the parties’ submissions, the trial court must deter-

mine whether the defendant has shown purposeful

discrimination.

Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 328–29 (2003) (Miller-El I) (citing

Batson, 476 U.S. at 96–98) (internal citations omitted).

Neither party disputes that Sockwell made a prima facie case

that the peremptory strike on Davis was based on race. Instead,

the parties dispute the Alabama Supreme Court’s determinations

on Batson’s second and third steps. We address each step in turn.

2 We have also emphasized that under Batson venire members “are entitled

not to be struck for racial reasons, and [B]lack defendants are entitled to be

tried in a system free of racially exclusionary practices.” United States v. David,

803 F.2d 1567, 1571 (11th Cir. 1986).

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 13 of 62

23-13321 Opinion of the Court 13

VI. Batson’s Second Step

Sockwell argues that the Alabama Supreme Court made an

unreasonable determination of fact under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(2) by

finding that (1) the comparison between Sockwell and Davis was

merely descriptive and (2) Brooks gave a race-neutral reason for

striking Davis. Sockwell asserts that Brooks’ statement that “Davis,

according to my notes is a [B]lack male, approximately 23 years of

age, which would put him very close to the same race, sex and age

of the defendant” is an explicitly racial reason for striking Davis.

A state habeas court’s findings of fact are presumed to be

correct and the petitioner bears “the burden of rebutting the pre-

sumption of correctness by clear and convincing evidence.” 28

U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1). “Even if the state court made a clearly errone-

ous factual determination, that doesn’t necessarily mean the state

court’s ‘decision’ was ‘based on’ an ‘unreasonable determination of

the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court pro-

ceeding.’” Pye v. Warden, Ga. Diagnostic Prison, 50 F.4th 1025, 1035

(11th Cir. 2022) (en banc) (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(2)). “De-

pending on the importance of the factual error to the state court’s

ultimate decision, that decision might still be reasonable.” Id. (in-

ternal quotation marks omitted).

Batson’s first and second steps “govern the production of ev-

idence that allows the trial court to determine the persuasiveness

of the defendant’s constitutional claim” when it reaches Batson’s

third step. Johnson v. California, 545 U.S. 162, 171 (2005). The sec-

ond step in the Batson inquiry “does not demand an explanation

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 14 of 62

14 Opinion of the Court 23-13321

that is persuasive, or even plausible.” Purkett v. Elem, 514 U.S. 765,

767–68 (1995) (per curiam). At this step, “the issue is the facial va-

lidity of the prosecutor’s explanation. Unless a discriminatory in-

tent is inherent in the prosecutor’s explanation, the reason offered

will be deemed race neutral.” Hernandez v. New York, 500 U.S. 352,

360 (1991) (plurality opinion).

The question for this court is whether the Alabama Supreme

Court reasonably reached its conclusion that Brooks proffered a

race-neutral reason under Batson’s second step. The Alabama Su-

preme Court credited as the “only reasons” for Brooks’ strike was

Davis’ “vagueness and lack of candor in stating what he had already

heard about the trial, from what source he has gotten this infor-

mation, and whether he could be willing to recommend the death

penalty.” Ex parte Sockwell, 675 So. 2d at 40. In doing so, it rejected

that “the prosecutor’s opening remark identifying [Davis] as a

[B]lack man was given as a reason for striking him.” Id. The Ala-

bama Supreme Court erred in finding that this statement by Brooks

was merely a descriptive identification.

We find the Alabama Supreme Court’s characterization of

Brooks’ statement as “merely descriptive” as unpersuasive as the

district court did. More than stating Davis’ race, Brooks compared

Davis’ race to Sockwell’s. But that does not mean that the Alabama

Supreme Court’s underlying determination at this stage of the Bat-

son inquiry was unreasonable. Considering that Batson’s second

step is a low burden, so much so that the proffered race-neutral

reason need not be “persuasive, or even plausible,” the Alabama

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 15 of 62

23-13321 Opinion of the Court 15

Supreme Court’s determination that Brooks met this low bar is not

unreasonable despite the factual error. Purkett, 514 U.S. at 767–68.

Still, Sockwell’s argument about the prosecutor’s comparison to

the stricken juror, Davis, has force. The language should be con-

sidered with all the relevant circumstances when we “determine

the persuasiveness of the defendant’s constitutional claim” at Bat-

son’s third step. Johnson, 545 U.S. at 171.

VII. Batson’s Third Step

Sockwell first argues that the Alabama Supreme Court un-

reasonably applied clearly established Supreme Court precedent by

failing to explicitly perform the third step analysis and to determine

whether he established purposeful discrimination. Instead, the

court “stopped immediately after step 2” and deferred to the trial

court’s finding that Brooks’ stated reasons for the Davis strike were

race neutral. Next, he argues that even if the Alabama Supreme

Court implicitly performed the required analysis, it unreasonably

applied Batson’s third step by failing to consider all of the relevant

circumstances.

Sockwell’s first argument is foreclosed by this court’s prece-

dent. We do not require “courts to show their work in Batson de-

cisions by mentioning every relevant circumstance.” King v. War-

den, Ga. Diagnostic Prison, 69 F.4th 856, 869 (11th Cir. 2023). State

courts are not required to list each fact or argument they consid-

ered. See Lee, 726 F.3d at 1212. Thus, we presume that the Alabama

Supreme Court implicitly considered the relevant circumstances.

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 16 of 62

16 Opinion of the Court 23-13321

Next, Sockwell argues that, even if it does not do so explic-

itly, the Alabama Supreme Court is not absolved from its duty to

properly consider all of the relevant circumstances at Batson’s third

step to determine whether Sockwell established purposeful dis-

crimination. After careful review, we agree that the Alabama Su-

preme Court’s implicit application of Batson’s third step was an un-

reasonable application of clearly established law.

A. AEDPA Review

When determining whether the defendant has established

purposeful discrimination, “the decisive question will be whether

[the prosecutor’s] race-neutral explanation . . . should be believed.”

Hernandez, 500 U.S. at 365. In addressing this question, “a court

must undertake a sensitive inquiry into such circumstantial and di-

rect evidence of intent as may be available,” Batson, 476 U.S. at 93

(internal quotation marks omitted), to determine “whether the op-

ponent of the strike has carried his burden of proving purposeful

discrimination,” Purkett, 514 U.S. at 768.

The defendant may present: (1) “statistical evidence about

the prosecutor’s use of peremptory strikes against [B]lack prospec-

tive jurors as compared to white prospective jurors in the case;”

(2) “evidence of a prosecutor’s disparate questioning and investiga-

tion of [B]lack and white prospective jurors in the case;” (3) “side-

by-side comparisons of [B]lack prospective jurors who were struck

and white prospective jurors who were not struck in the case;”

(4) “a prosecutor’s misrepresentations of the record when defend-

ing the strikes during the Batson hearing;” (5) “relevant history of

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 17 of 62

23-13321 Opinion of the Court 17

the State’s peremptory strikes in past cases;” or (6) any “other rele-

vant circumstances that bear upon the issue of racial discrimina-

tion.” Flowers, 588 U.S. at 302.

Under AEDPA, a state court’s finding of no purposeful dis-

crimination is entitled to deference unless it is: (1) “contrary to, or

involved an unreasonable application of,” Batson and its progeny,

or (2) “resulted in a decision that was based on an unreasonable de-

termination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the

State court proceeding.” See 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1)–(2).

“Where the concern is that a state court failed to follow Bat-

son’s three steps, the analysis should be under AEDPA

§ 2254(d)(1).” McGahee v. Ala. Dep’t of Corr., 560 F.3d 1252, 1256

(11th Cir. 2009). “Under the ‘unreasonable application’ clause, a

federal habeas court may grant the writ if the state court identifies

the correct governing legal principle from this Court’s decisions

but unreasonably applies that principle to the facts of the prisoner’s

case.” Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 413 (2000). “[A] federal ha-

beas court may not issue the writ simply because that court con-

cludes in its independent judgment that the relevant state-court de-

cision applied clearly established federal law erroneously or incor-

rectly. Rather, that application must also be unreasonable.” Id. at

411. Further, “[t]he decision must be ‘so obviously wrong that its

error lies beyond any possibility for fairminded disagreement.’”

Pye, 50 F.4th at 1034 (quoting Shinn v. Kayer, 592 U.S. 111, 118

(2020) (per curiam)).

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 18 of 62

18 Opinion of the Court 23-13321

The Supreme Court has clearly articulated that “[i]n decid-

ing whether the defendant has made the requisite showing, the trial

court should consider all relevant circumstances.” Batson, 476 U.S.

at 96. Our decision in Lee discussed the AEDPA standard for eval-

uating whether the state court failed to consider the totality of “all

relevant circumstances” under Batson. We held that an “unreason-

able application” results where there are “explicit racial statements

and strong evidence of discriminatory purpose,” such that no rea-

sonable and fairminded jurist could have considered “all relevant

circumstances” and find no Batson violation. Lee, 726 F.3d at 1213. 3

Sockwell points us to the following “relevant circum-

stances,” that he claims the Alabama Supreme Court ignored:

3 Lee summarized our cases applying Batson. Specifically, the opinion pointed

to our decisions in McGahee and Adkins for examples of explicitly racial justifi-

cations for striking jurors. 726 F.3d at 1213. In McGahee, we noted the State’s

claim that several Black jurors were struck due to “low intelligence” was “a

particularly suspicious explanation given the role that the claim of ‘low intel-

ligence’ has played in the history of racial discrimination from juries.” 560 F.3d

1252, 1265 (11th Cir. 2009). We also agreed that the State’s reasoning for strik-

ing the only remaining Black juror because it “did not want to leave him indi-

vidually” could “be read only to mean that the State did not want to leave

[him] as the sole [B]lack juror on the panel.” Id. at 1264. The “statement by

the prosecutor that a juror was struck because of his race is a ‘relevant circum-

stance” in determining whether Batson has been violated.” Id. In Adkins, we

found that the state court unreasonably applied Batson when it failed to con-

sider key facts such as “the fact that the prosecution explicitly noted the race

of every [B]lack venire member (and only [B]lack venire members) on the jury

list” used in jury selection, and “the fact that specific proffered reasons pro-

vided by the prosecutor were incorrect and/or contradicted by the record.”

710 F.3d 1241, 1252 (11th Cir. 2013).

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 19 of 62

23-13321 Opinion of the Court 19

(1) Brooks’ relevant history of preemptory strikes in past cases that

were found to have violated Batson; (2) the “statistical evidence

about the prosecutor’s use of peremptory strikes against [B]lack

prospective jurors as compared to white prospective jurors in the

case;” (3) Brooks’ reasoning for striking Davis as compared to two

white jurors who were not struck; and (4) Brooks’ response to

questions about why she struck Davis, which bears “upon the issue

of racial discrimination.” See Flowers, 588 U.S. at 302. We agree

with Sockwell that the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision was an

unreasonable application of Batson and its progeny. No reasonable

and fairminded jurist could have considered “all relevant circum-

stances” present here and find no Batson violation. See Lee, 726 F.3d

at 1228.

i. History of Peremptory Strikes in Past Cases

Batson challengers may present evidence of a “relevant his-

tory of [the prosecutor’s] peremptory strikes in past cases.” Flowers,

588 U.S. at 302. Relevant history of prior peremptory strikes based

on race bears on the question of present discrimination. See id.

Here, Brooks had a significant history of striking jurors in a racially

discriminatory manner right before and during Sockwell’s trial in

1990. Both the ACCA and Alabama Supreme Court found several

instances of Brooks striking Black jurors in violation of Batson start-

ing in 1988. 4 Sims v. State, 587 So. 2d 1271, 1277 (Ala. Crim. App.

4 In two cases, Alabama courts identified Brooks as the prosecutor who struck

most if not all the Black jurors. In Ex parte Bird, the Alabama Supreme Court

noted “a pattern in the use of peremptory strikes by the Montgomery County

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 20 of 62

20 Opinion of the Court 23-13321

1991) (“A number of cases prosecuted in Montgomery County

have been reversed because of a Batson violation.”). We discuss

several of those cases in turn.

First, in 1985 Samuel Williams was convicted of drug of-

fenses, and he raised a Batson challenge before the ACCA. Williams

v. State, 530 So. 2d 881, 883–86 (Ala. Crim. App. 1988). Brooks

struck all the potential Black jurors. Id. at 883–85. The ACCA

agreed with the trial court that Williams’ Batson objection was

District Attorney’s office” to remove Black jurors—specifically in “a number

of cases . . . prosecuted by Bruce Maddox and Ellen Brooks.” 594 So. 2d 676,

681 (Ala. 1991). For example, “[i]n Williams v. State, Ms. Brooks struck 100%

of the [B]lack jurors from the venire.” Id. at 681 (citing 530 So. 2d 881 (Ala.

Crim. App. 1988)).

In at least two other cases, Brooks was not named directly but we can safely

deduce that she was involved. At Sockwell’s trial, his attorneys pointed to

Sims v. State—a case that Brooks prosecuted the prior week—where she struck

fourteen of the sixteen Black jurors. 587 So. 2d 1271, 1275–78 (Ala. Crim. App.

1991).

Reviewing Brooks’ jury selection in Sims, the ACCA concluded that “the rea-

sons offered by the prosecutor for her remaining strikes present serious doubts

to this court as to their validity.” 587 So. 2d at 1276. The court observed that

“[t]he same prosecutor involved in the present case, was also involved in Pow-

ell, Williams, Warner, and Parker. Of these cases, three were reversed for Batson

violations.” Id. at 1277 (referencing Powell v. State, 548 So.2d 590 (Ala. Crim.

App. 1988), aff’d, 548 So.2d 605 (Ala. 1989); Williams, 530 So. 2d 501; Warner v.

State, 594 So. 2d 664 (Ala. Crim. App. 1990); and Parker v. State, 568 So.2d 335,

338 (Ala. Crim. App. 1990)). The ACCA also cited testimony “from several

local attorneys” who “had participated in trials prosecuted by the same assis-

tant district attorney,” including Powell, Williams, and Warner. Sims, 587 So.

2d at 1277. The defendant in the Warner case was a co-defendant in Bird. See

Bird, 594 So. 2d at 678; Warner, 594 So. 2d at 666.

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 21 of 62

23-13321 Opinion of the Court 21

untimely because it had been made after the jury had been sworn

in, and he failed to justify the delay. Id. 885–86.

But this was not Williams’ only appeal to the ACCA based

on Brooks’ striking of Black jurors. In 1988, on appeal from Wil-

liams’ conviction for a different drug offense, the ACCA found that

Brooks’ explanation for striking all nine Black prospective jurors

“did not meet the requirements of Batson” and returned the case to

the trial court. Williams v. State, 548 So. 2d 501, 503 (Ala. Crim.

App. 1988). The court specifically noted that those proceedings

needed to comply with Batson. Id. On remand, the state trial court

held an evidentiary hearing and found that Brooks met her burden

to make “a bona fide or legitimate showing that her use of the per-

emptory strikes was for reasons other than race.” Id. at 504–06.

But on appeal, the ACCA found Brooks’ supposed race-neutral rea-

sons for striking most of the Black jurors were not “specific, bona

fide, or legitimate,” and thus violated Batson. Id. at 507. 5

5 The dissenting opinion points out that Williams’ trial occurred in 1985, one

year before the Supreme Court decided Batson. But Batson was “a new rule

for the conduct of criminal prosecutions” that was “to be applied retroactively

to all cases, state or federal, pending on direct review or not yet final.” Griffith

v. Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314, 328 (1987). That “Brooks could not have purpose-

fully violated a Supreme Court decision that did not exist until nearly a year

later,” does not change the fact that Brooks purposefully struck Black jurors in

the cases she prosecuted. Brooks’ pattern of discriminatory strikes continued

even after Batson, reinforces the conclusion that her discriminatory jury selec-

tion was not due to a lack of notice about what the Equal Protection Clause

requires.

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 22 of 62

22 Opinion of the Court 23-13321

Second, in 1987, Timothy Powell was convicted of robbery

and murder. He raised a Batson challenge because Brooks struck

all the potential Black jurors, using thirteen of the State’s sixteen

peremptory challenges. Powell v. State, 548 So. 2d 590, 592–93 (Ala.

Crim. App. 1988), aff’d sub nom. Ex parte Powell, 548 So. 2d 605 (Ala.

1989). The ACCA noted that the trial court clearly erred in finding

that many reasons that Brooks gave for striking Black jurors were

sufficiently race-neutral. Id. at 594. “The State simply did not re-

move white persons for the same reasons given by the State for

removing [B]lacks.” Id. at 593.

Third, in 1987, Terry Bird was convicted of capital murder.

Ex parte Bird, 594 So. 2d 676, 678 (Ala. 1991). Bird presented evi-

dence that Brooks used “85% of her peremptory challenges, that is,

17 of 20 strikes, to eliminate 89% of the [B]lack veniremembers”

for reasons unsupported by the record. Id. at 681. In 1991, the Al-

abama Supreme Court found Brooks violated Batson. Id. at 678.

The court noted that “the venire consisted of 52 prospective jurors.

The 19 [B]lack veniremembers comprised 36% of the venire. How-

ever, the fact that only one [B]lack juror was ultimately seated on

the jury meant that [B]lacks comprised only 8% of the trial jury.”

Id. at 680.

Fourth, Brad Haywood Sims was convicted of a drug of-

fense, and during voir dire, Brooks struck fourteen of the sixteen

potential Black jurors. Sims v. State, 587 So. 2d 1271, 1272, 1275–76

(Ala. Crim. App. 1991). Although the jury included two Black ju-

rors, the ACCA noted “[t]he fact that two [B]lacks actually sat on

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 23 of 62

23-13321 Opinion of the Court 23

the jury is not proof that no racial discrimination occurred.” Id. at

1277. Ultimately, the ACCA found that Brooks violated Batson by

striking several Black jurors again for traits and reasons that poten-

tial white jurors provided yet were not challenged. Id. at 1277–78. 6

The Sims case had only been conducted the week before Sock-

well’s, and Sockwell’s counsel brought up the Sims case in its argu-

ment to reopen the Batson challenge before trial. 7

Brooks’ history of Batson violations is germane when con-

sidering the relevant circumstances at Batson’s third step.8 “We

6 The ACCA expressly considered Brooks’ history of excluding Black jurors.

Sims v. State, 587 So. 2d 1271, 1277 (Ala. Crim. App. 1991). “The record also

contains testimony at the Batson hearing from several local attorneys. These

attorneys had participated in trials prosecuted by the same assistant district

attorney as the one in the present case. All of the attorney-witnesses testified

that in each instance, the prosecutor had excluded approximately 80% of the

[B]lack veniremembers.” Id.

7 Sockwell’s counsel asked to inquire into the Sims trial, but the state trial judge

denied that request.

8 We also must note that Brooks was not the only culprit within the Mont-

gomery County District Attorney’s office. Bruce Maddox, who also engaged

in striking Black jurors in a racially discriminatory manner, was called out in

Bird. See Bird, 594 So. 2d at 681 (pointing to Maddox’s high strike rate of Black

jurors in two cases). After Bird, the Alabama Supreme Court again had to

chastise Maddox for his discriminatory striking of twenty-four of the twenty-

seven potential Black jurors in Ex parte Yelder. 630 So. 2d 107, 108 (Ala. 1992).

The Alabama Supreme Court appeared exasperated by the fact that Brooks

was still striking potential Black jurors for “whimsical, ad hoc excuses” that it

had previously rejected. Id. at 109 (discussing the prosecutor’s “explanations”

for striking Black jurors included that they had the same name as someone

allegedly prosecuted by the district attorney’s office, the prosecutor’s “gut re-

action,” “body language,” and alleged “communication difficulties” that

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 24 of 62

24 Opinion of the Court 23-13321

cannot ignore that history.” Flowers, 588 U.S. at 307. As a result,

Brooks’ pattern of Batson violations shows that her strikes in Sock-

well’s trial—which occurred around the same time as these state

court cases—were “motivated in substantial part by discriminatory

intent.” Id. at 305.

ii. Statistical Evidence

As Batson explained: “total or seriously disproportionate ex-

clusion of Negroes from jury venires is itself such an unequal ap-

plication of the law . . . as to show intentional discrimination.” 476

U.S. at 93 (internal quotations and citation omitted). Further, “a

‘pattern’ of strikes against [B]lack jurors included in the particular

venire might give rise to an inference of discrimination.” Id. at 97;

see also Miller-El I, 537 U.S. at 342 (“[T]he statistical evidence alone

raises some debate as to whether the prosecution acted with a race-

based reason,” where the prosecution struck “91%” of the eligible

Black venire members with ten of their fourteen peremptory

strikes.).

[I]n the statistical analysis courts must consider the

statistics in the context of other factors in a case, such

as: the racial composition of the venire from which

the jurors were struck, the racial composition of the

ultimate jury, the substance of the voir dire answers

weren’t supported by the record). The Alabama Supreme Court stated, “We

regret that the conduct of the prosecution has, because of actions taken on the

basis of race, once again necessitated a retrial, thus creating an additional strain

on the judicial and economic resources of this state.” Id. at 110.

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 25 of 62

23-13321 Opinion of the Court 25

of jurors struck by the State, and any other evidence

in the record of a particular case.

Lee, 726 F.3d at 1224.

The racial composition of Sockwell’s jury pool consisted of

ten Black jurors (24% of the total jury pool) and thirty-two white

jurors (76% of the total jury pool). During the peremptory striking

process, Brooks used the State’s fifteen peremptory strikes to re-

move eight qualified Black jurors and seven qualified white jurors.

But after Brooks’ strikes, 17% of the jurors were Black (i.e., only

two Black jurors) and 83% were white (i.e., ten white jurors).

Brooks struck 80% of the qualified Black jurors while striking only

22% of the qualified white jurors. The number of Black jurors de-

creased 50%, while the number of white jurors increased. 9

This statistical information establishes a pattern of striking

qualified Black jurors far more often than qualified white jurors and

provides strong evidence of the disproportionate exclusion of Black

jurors against which Batson cautioned. 10 See McGahee, 560 F.3d at

1265.

9 In the other cases in which Alabama courts found Batson violations, Brooks

struck between 81% and 100% of Black jurors.

10 Sockwell also points to other circuits’ use of the “challenge rate,” which

compares the proportion of the party’s strikes against a racial group to the

proportion of that group in the jury. See, e.g., Jones v. West, 555 F.3d 90, 98 (2d

Cir. 2009). Sockwell asserts that Brooks’ challenge rate for Black jurors was

223% while her challenge rate for white jurors was only 61% at his voir dire.

Although this court’s opinion in Adkins does not specifically mention the chal-

lenge rate, Sockwell states that after doing the calculation himself, the

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 26 of 62

26 Opinion of the Court 23-13321

iii. Reasoning for Striking Davis

Third, Sockwell compares Davis with two white jurors—

Lisa Burch and Peggy McFarlin—who were not struck for giving

vague answers about pretrial publicity. During voir dire, Davis

stated that he could not remember what he heard about the trial.

Both Burch and McFarlin also did not remember in detail what

they had heard. This comparison suggests that the vagueness of

Davis’ answer was only pretextual because Brooks did not strike

Burch or McFarlin. The contradiction that Brooks did not strike

two white jurors who explicitly stated they did not know what they

heard about the case is highly relevant when conducting the Batson

step three analysis. 11

iv. Brooks’ Response About the Strike

Sockwell points out that Brooks directly compared Davis to

Sockwell,12 by stating that “Davis, according to my notes, is a

[B]lack male, approximately twenty-three years of age, which

would put him very close to the same race, sex, and age of the

challenge rate there was 218% for Black jurors, which is five percent less than

what happened here. See Adkins v. Warden, 710 F.3d 1241, 1252–53 (11th Cir.

2013). The high differential in challenge rates here further persuades us that

Brooks engaged in a discriminatory pattern of striking jurors.

11 Brooks also stated that Davis’ view on the death penalty was another reason

for striking him, but that is not addressed by the Alabama Supreme Court.

12 Sockwell’s argument at Batson’s second step focuses extensively on this ex-

change, and while we find that Sockwell did not meet his burden at that step,

that does not foreclose us from considering Brooks’ response in the relevant

circumstances discussion.

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 27 of 62

23-13321 Opinion of the Court 27

defendant.” “The core guarantee of equal protection, ensuring cit-

izens that their State will not discriminate on account of race,

would be meaningless were we to approve the exclusion of jurors

on the basis of such assumptions, which arise solely from the ju-

rors’ race.” Batson, 476 U.S. at 97–98; see also Flowers, 588 U.S. at

298–99 (summarizing key points from Batson, including that strik-

ing a Black juror on an assumption or belief that the Black juror

would favor a Black defendant is impermissible). This comparison

is relevant because it supports that Brooks felt as if Davis “would

be partial to [Sockwell] because of their shared race.” Batson, 476

U.S. at 97.

* * *

These four relevant factors reinforce each other to show

strong evidence of racial discrimination. Even allowing for the def-

erence afforded to the Alabama Supreme Court under AEDPA, a

reasonable and fair-minded jurist could not have considered all of

this evidence and concluded that Batson was not violated. Denying

Batson relief, despite “the explicit racial statements and strong evi-

dence of discriminatory purpose,” is an unreasonable application

of the law. See Lee, 726 F.3d at 1213. Alabama state courts found

that Brooks repeatedly and purposefully struck Black jurors, mak-

ing only dubious and capricious excuses. See Bird, 594 So. 2d at 685.

Along with the extensive statistical data of striking Black jurors in

Sockwell’s case and Brooks’ explicitly race-based reasoning for re-

moving Davis, confirms Brooks’ racially discriminatory intent.

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 28 of 62

28 Opinion of the Court 23-13321

To be sure, a state court need not “discuss every fact or ar-

gument to be a reasonable application of Batson under § 2254(d),”

Lee, 726 F.3d at 1214, and we must not base our holding on our

own independent judgment that the state court merely applied

clearly established federal law incorrectly, Williams, 529 U.S. at 411.

Still, when there is truly an “abundan[ce of] racial discrimination

evidence,” we may find the state court’s Batson decision was indeed

unreasonable. Lee, 726 F.3d at 1214.

Sockwell presents “strong evidence of discriminatory pur-

pose.” See id. at 1223. No reasonable and fairminded jurist could

have considered “all relevant circumstances” and still found no Bat-

son violation.13 See id. at 1213. Thus, the Alabama Supreme Court

acted unreasonably in applying Batson.

13 The dissenting opinion dives through several Eleventh Circuit cases to

prove its point that when considering all relevant circumstances, “reasonable

and fairminded jurists could conclude there was no Batson violation.” While

the dissenting opinion details troublesome relevant circumstances—instances

upon instances of prosecutors purposefully striking huge swath of Black jurors

and flimsy reasons for striking those Black jurors—none of those cases in-

volved a direct comparison of the defendant to a stricken Juror and a state su-

preme court calling out the prosecutor by name and the office for serial Batson

violations.

We do note that this court’s decision in King may be the closest case, but we

find King to be distinguishable. King featured a prosecutor with one previous

Batson violation, two soliloquies by the prosecutor that showed animosity to-

wards having to comply with Batson, unsupported reasons for striking Black

jurors, and statistical evidence. King v. Warden, Ga. Diagnostic Prison, 69 F.4th

856, 870–71 (11th Cir. 2023). But, here, there are more relevant circumstances

that skew in Sockwell’s favor. First, we have more than one previous Batson

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 29 of 62

23-13321 Opinion of the Court 29

B. De Novo Review

When we have determined that a state court decision is an

unreasonable application of federal law under AEDPA, we are un-

constrained by § 2254’s deference. McGahee, 560 F.3d at 1266. We

now review de novo the record below to determine whether the

State, via Brooks, violated Batson during jury selection.

As noted above, the record overflows with relevant circum-

stances that weigh against Brooks’ proffered race-neutral reasons

for exercising the challenged peremptory strike. The statistical ev-

idence in Sockwell’s case is strong. See Batson, 476 U.S. at 97 (con-

sidering the statistical evidence about a prosecutor’s strikes of Black

prospective jurors versus white prospective jurors). And in other

cases in which the Alabama courts found Batson violations, Brooks

struck Black jurors at a high rate. Those cases also show a pattern

and practice of Brooks striking Black jurors because Brooks’ strikes

were found discriminatory by state courts from 1988 through 1992.

violation with multiple Alabama appellate courts calling out Brooks and the

Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office for serial Batson violations dur-

ing the relevant time. See, e.g., Bird, 594 So. 2d at 681. Second, Brooks com-

pared Sockwell to Davis, stating she struck him for being the same race as the

defendant, which is exactly what Batson cautioned against. See Batson, 476 U.S.

at 97 (“[T]he Equal Protection Clause forbids . . . the States to strike [B]lack

veniremen on the assumption that they will be biased in a particular case

simply because the defendant is [B]lack.”). Add in the statistical evidence and

the unsupported reasons for striking Davis, and Sockwell’s case is more akin

to cases where defendants overcame AEDPA by showing the state courts had

unreasonably applied Batson. See McGahee, 560 F.3d at 1264–65; Adkins, 710

F.3d at 1253.

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 30 of 62

30 Opinion of the Court 23-13321

Flowers, 588 U.S. at 302 (finding that the relevant history of the

State’s peremptory strikes supports a Batson claim). And Brooks

compared Davis to Sockwell for no legitimate reason, instead sug-

gesting that due to their shared characteristics Davis would be par-

tial to Sockwell. See Batson, 476 U.S. at 89.

Brooks said that she struck Davis because he could not re-

member specifics about the pre-trial publicity, yet there were white

jurors who could not remember what they heard about the case,

and Brooks did not strike them. During his individual voir dire,

Davis explained that he had heard something about the incident,

but he was vague as to where he had heard about the case. After

further questioning, Davis explained that he heard people talking

about what they had read in the newspaper. And, as noted above,

there were two white jurors who were not struck despite being

vague about what they heard about the case. A comparison of the

voir dire shows that like Davis, the white jurors could not tell

Brooks what they had heard about the trial.

For McFarlin, the state trial court asked about her access to

pretrial publicity where she noted that she heard something about

the matter in the paper. But in response to the state trial court’s

question about whether she “read or heard anything about it, or

from any source gained any information as to whether or not this

defendant was guilty or not guilty,” she answered, “I can’t -- I don’t

remember. I just barely remember the story, but I don’t remember

how it ended.” In following up, the state trial court asked if she

had “any opinion toward whether or not this defendant would be

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 31 of 62

23-13321 Opinion of the Court 31

guilty or not guilty right now from any source.” In response, she

said, “I don’t really know what the story was really about, really. I

just read a little bit of it in the paper and I don’t know what he’s

done.” Ultimately, like Davis, McFarlin said that she could put

aside anything she might have heard and could “make a fair, im-

partial, and just decision in this case.”

For Burch, the state trial court asked about her access to pre-

trial publicity where she said that a while back, she “heard it on the

news, but it was, you know, just briefly.” When asked if she could

set aside anything she may have heard, she responded yes, like Da-

vis, but again reiterated that she couldn’t “even remember in full

detail what I heard at that time.”

Although Davis may have been a little vaguer than the two

white jurors, the law does not require that “similarly situated” ju-

rors are “identical in all respects.” Miller-El v. Dretke, 545 U.S. 231,

247 n.6 (2005) (Miller-El II). Indeed, “[a] per se rule that a defendant

cannot win a Batson claim unless there is an exactly identical white

juror would leave Batson inoperable; potential jurors are not prod-

ucts of a set of cookie cutters.” Id.; see also Flowers, 588 U.S. at 311–

12 (citing Miller-El II and affirming that “a defendant is not required

to identify an identical white juror for the side-by-side comparison

to be suggestive of discriminatory intent”).

Brooks also stated that Davis’ view on the death penalty was

another reason for striking him, but the Alabama Supreme Court

did not address it. Our de novo review of the record does not sup-

port that argument. Although there was some initial confusion

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 32 of 62

32 Opinion of the Court 23-13321

about how Davis felt about implementing the death penalty, it be-

came very clear after the trial judge followed up that Davis could

vote for the death penalty if the circumstances warranted it. Spe-

cifically, Davis stated that he could be “[f]air enough to listen to the

trial and then come up with a verdict.”

“A Batson challenge does not call for a mere exercise in think-

ing up any rational basis. If the stated reason does not hold up, its

pretextual significance does not fade because a trial judge, or an

appeals court, can imagine a reason that might not have been

shown up as false.” Miller-El II, 545 U.S. at 252. Thus, Sockwell

met his burden at Batson’s third step to demonstrate Davis’ exclu-

sion from the jury was purposeful discrimination.

Brooks struck eight out of the ten Black jurors from Sock-

well’s jury. A side-by-side comparison of individual reasons for

striking Davis, a Black juror, with the reasons for not striking white

jurors, Burch and McFarlin, reveals a substantial likelihood of race-

based considerations in the exercise of those strikes. In sum, the

overwhelming evidence in this record compels a finding that

Brooks’ use of her peremptory strike to dismiss Davis violated

Sockwell’s rights under the Equal Protection Clause and clearly es-

tablished federal law under Batson.

VIII. Harmless Error

The Commissioner argues that the Supreme Court’s deci-

sion in Brown v. Davenport requires Sockwell to show that “‘law and

justice’ require relief” for this court to grant habeas relief, even if

he overcomes AEDPA. 596 U.S. 118, 134 (2022). The

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 33 of 62

23-13321 Opinion of the Court 33

Commissioner asks us to interpret this requirement as adding a

harmless error analysis to Batson claims. 14

We decline to do so. This court has noted previously that

the Supreme Court has not suggested that Batson violations are

subject to harmless error review. See Davis v. Sec’y for Dep’t of Corr.,

341 F.3d 1310, 1316–17 (11th Cir. 2003) (per curiam). Since this

court decided Davis in 2003, the Supreme Court has continued to

reverse convictions even when only one or two potential jurors are

struck in violation of Batson, no matter if it affected the outcome

of the trial. See Flowers, 588 U.S. at 315–16; Foster v. Chatman, 578

U.S. 488, 514 (2016); Snyder v. Louisiana, 552 U.S. 472, 477–78, 486

(2008). “Equal justice under law requires a criminal trial free of

racial discrimination in the jury selection process.” Flowers, 588

U.S. at 301.

IX. Conclusion

Accordingly, the district court’s order denying Sockwell’s

federal habeas petition is REVERSED, and the case is

REMANDED to the district court with instructions to issue the

14 Since Brown was released, other circuits have applied the “law and justice”

requirement when a petitioner not only has to overcome AEDPA deference

but an existing harmless error analysis. See Jewell v. Boughton, 90 F.4th 1199,

1203–06 (7th Cir. 2024) (Confrontation Clause); Neal v. Vannoy, 78 F.4th 775,

796 (5th Cir. 2023) (ineffective assistance of counsel). This trend supports that

Brown does not impose a new harmless error requirement in habeas cases.

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 34 of 62

34 Opinion of the Court 23-13321

writ of habeas corpus conditioned upon the right of Alabama to

retry Sockwell.

REVERSED and REMANDED.

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 35 of 62

23-13321 LUCK, J., dissenting 1

LUCK, Circuit Judge, dissenting:

Michael Sockwell blew “half of ” Montgomery County Dep-

uty Sheriff Isaiah Harris’s “face off” with a shotgun as the deputy

was driving to his shift at the police station. Sockwell v. State (Sock-

well I), 675 So. 2d 4, 12–13 (Ala. Crim. App. 1993), aff’d, Ex parte

Sockwell (Sockwell II), 675 So. 2d 38 (Ala. 1995). Sockwell murdered

Deputy Harris for money. Id. He confessed in a recorded state-

ment to the police. He confessed to his friend. Id. at 13. And his

coconspirator confessed and implicated him. See id. at 12–13.

At Sockwell’s trial thirty-five years ago, Ellen Brooks, the

prosecutor, used a peremptory challenge to strike veniremember

Eric Davis, a black male, based on Juror Davis’s “vagueness and lack

of candor in stating what he had already heard about the trial, from

what source he ha[d] gotten this information, and whether he

could be willing to recommend the death penalty.” Sockwell II, 675

So. 2d at 40. Applying the third step of the three-step Batson v. Ken-

tucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986) inquiry, the Alabama Supreme Court found

that the peremptory strike of Juror Davis was not the result of pur-

poseful discrimination. Sockwell II, 675 So. 2d at 42.

In all but the most “extreme” cases, we would defer to the

state court’s finding. King v. Warden, Ga. Diagnostic Prison, 69 F.4th

856, 869, 873 (11th Cir. 2023). But the majority opinion relies on

three premises to strip the Alabama Supreme Court of the defer-

ence its finding is due under the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death

Penalty Act (AEDPA). The first premise is that there were four rele-

vant circumstances the Alabama Supreme Court had to consider in

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 36 of 62

2 LUCK, J., dissenting 23-13321

its Batson third step inquiry: (a) Ms. Brooks’s history of peremp-

tory strikes based on race; (b) statistical evidence of a pattern of

striking qualified black veniremembers; (c) Ms. Brooks’s reasons

for striking Juror Davis compared to her decision not to strike two

white jurors; and (d) Ms. Brooks’s response to Sockwell’s Batson ob-

jection explaining why she struck Juror Davis. The second premise

is that the Alabama Supreme Court unreasonably applied the Bat-

son third step inquiry because it ignored these four relevant circum-

stances. And the third premise is that no fairminded jurist could have

considered these four relevant circumstances and concluded, as the

Alabama Supreme Court did, that the peremptory strike of Juror

Davis was not the result of purposeful discrimination. Stripped of

deference, the majority opinion reviews the cold record de novo,

conducts its own Batson analysis thirty-five years removed from the

courtroom, rejects the state court’s no-purposeful-discrimination

finding, and orders the district court to grant the habeas writ so the

state can figure out a way to retry Sockwell almost four decades

after the murder.

The problem with the majority opinion is that each of its

three premises is flawed. First, the four circumstances are not

nearly as relevant as the majority opinion says they are. The ma-

jority opinion misstates some relevant circumstances and over-

looks the record as to others. Second, the Alabama Supreme Court

did not unreasonably apply the Batson third step inquiry because it

did not ignore the four relevant circumstances. It considered all the

relevant circumstances proffered by Sockwell in finding no pur-

poseful discrimination in striking Juror Davis. And third, even with

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 37 of 62

23-13321 LUCK, J., dissenting 3

the four relevant circumstances, a fairminded jurist could conclude

that striking Juror Davis from the jury was not based on purposeful

discrimination. A fairminded jurist already has. See, e.g., id. at 868–

73.

1. The Four Circumstances Are Not Nearly as Relevant as the Majority

Opinion Says They Are

The majority opinion’s first premise is that there were four

relevant circumstances that the Alabama Supreme Court had to

consider in its Batson finding: (a) Ms. Brooks’s history of peremp-

tory strikes in past cases; (b) the “statistical evidence about the pros-

ecutor’s use of peremptory strikes against [b]lack prospective ju-

rors in the case”; (c) “[Ms.] Brooks’[s] reasoning for striking [Juror]

Davis as compared to two white jurors who were not struck”; and

(d) Ms. Brooks’s response to Sockwell’s Batson objection explaining

why she struck Juror Davis. But the majority opinion overstates

the relevance of these circumstances. Some are not relevant at all.

And others are much less relevant than the majority opinion lets

on.

A. History of Peremptory Strikes in Past Cases

As the first relevant circumstance, the majority opinion says

there are “several instances of [Ms.] Brooks striking [b]lack jurors

in violation of Batson starting in 1988.” Specifically, the majority

opinion points to five cases: Williams v. State, 530 So. 2d 881 (Ala.

Crim. App. 1988); Williams v. State, 548 So. 2d 501 (Ala. Crim. App.

1988); Powell v. State, 548 So. 2d 590 (Ala. Crim. App. 1988); Ex parte

Bird, 594 So. 2d 676 (Ala. 1991); and Sims v. State, 587 So. 2d 1271

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 38 of 62

4 LUCK, J., dissenting 23-13321

(Ala. Crim. App. 1991). But, on closer look, there are not several

instances of Ms. Brooks striking black veniremembers in violation

of Batson.

First, as to the Williams cases, the trials in both cases were

held in May 1985—almost a year before Batson was decided. Com-

pare Williams, 530 So. 2d at 882 (the defendant was convicted at the

first trial on May 1, 1985), and Williams, 548 So. 2d at 503 & n.1 (the

defendant was convicted at the second trial on May 27, 1985), with

Batson, 476 U.S. at 79 (decided in April 1986). Ms. Brooks could not

have purposefully violated a Supreme Court decision that did not

exist until nearly a year later. At the time of the Williams trials,

Swain v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 202 (1965) was the governing law on jury

selection, and there was no indication in the Williams cases that

Ms. Brooks violated Swain. Of course, Batson applied retroactively

to the Williams cases because Batson was decided while those cases

were on direct appeal. But the majority opinion does not explain

how the Williams cases can establish a “pattern” of Ms. Brooks vi-

olating Batson during jury selection when there was no Batson deci-

sion in 1985 for her to violate.

Second, as to Powell, we cannot “safely deduce” that Ms.

Brooks was the prosecutor who exercised the peremptory strikes

in that case. The Alabama Supreme Court explained that a differ-

ent prosecutor, Bruce Maddox, “used 75% of his peremptory chal-

lenges (6 of 8 strikes) to eliminate black veniremembers” in another

case, Parker v. State. See Bird, 594 So. 2d at 681. And, according to

the state supreme court, the “same prosecutor involved” in Parker

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 39 of 62

23-13321 LUCK, J., dissenting 5

“was also involved” in Powell. See Sims, 587 So. 2d at 1277. Mr.

1

Maddox was the prosecutor in Parker; not Ms. Brooks.

B. Statistical Evidence

As the second relevant circumstance, the majority opinion

says that the “statistical information establish[ing] a pattern of

striking qualified [b]lack jurors far more often than qualified white

jurors” was “strong evidence” the Alabama Supreme Court had to

consider. But the statistical evidence was strong only because the

majority opinion skipped over three bits of critical information.

First, black jurors made up seventeen percent (rounding up)

of the jury, which wasn’t far off from the twenty-four percent

(rounding up) that made up the jury pool. Sockwell’s jury, that is,

largely reflected the makeup of the venire. Cf. United States v. Hill,

643 F.3d 807, 838 (11th Cir. 2011) (finding no Batson violation where

forty-one percent of the venire was black and, after the government

1

We have additional reasons to be skeptical. The list of cases in the majority

opinion showing “several instances of [Ms.] Brooks striking [b]lack jurors in

violation of Batson” is largely borrowed from page fifty-two of Sockwell’s brief.

On the same page, Sockwell also includes Ex parte Yelder, 630 So. 2d. 107 (Ala.

1992). In Yelder, he writes, “the Alabama Supreme Court vacated a conviction

where [Ms.] Brooks struck 24 of 27 black veniremembers.” But Sockwell is

demonstrably wrong. While Yelder does not mention who exercised the per-

emptory strikes, the prosecutor in that case was a man, not a woman. See

Yelder v. State, 630 So. 2d 92, 98 (Ala. Crim. App. 1991), rev’d sub nom. Yelder,

630 So. 2d at 110 (referencing “the prosecutor[]” and the “reasons for his strikes

of black prospective jurors” (emphasis added)).

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 40 of 62

6 LUCK, J., dissenting 23-13321

exercised nine of its fourteen strikes against black veniremembers,

fifty percent of the jury was black).

Second, “the presence of [black] jurors,” we’ve explained, “is

a significant factor tending to prove the paucity of the [Batson]

claim.” United States v. Puentes, 50 F.3d 1567, 1578 (11th Cir. 1995).

“[T]he unchallenged presence of two blacks on the jury,” as there

was here, “undercuts any inference of impermissible discrimina-

tion that might be argued to arise from the fact that the prosecutor

used [seventy-five percent of the] peremptory challenges he exer-

cised to strike blacks from the panel of potential jurors and alter-

nates.” United States v. Dennis, 804 F.2d 1208, 1211 (11th Cir. 1986);

see also Valle v. Sec’y for the Dep’t of Corrs., 459 F.3d 1206, 1213 (11th

Cir. 2006) (concluding that the Florida Supreme Court did not un-

reasonably apply Batson partly because “two blacks served as jurors

and a third serve[d] as an alternate” (alteration adopted)).

Third, unlike the prosecutor in Dennis, Ms. Brooks used far

less than seventy-five percent of her peremptory challenges to

strike black veniremembers. Ms. Brooks had fifteen peremptory

strikes. Of those fifteen, she used seven—a little less than fifty per-

cent—to strike white veniremembers and eight—a little more than

fifty percent—to strike black ones. Put another way, Ms. Brooks

used almost as many strikes on white veniremembers as she did on

black ones. See United States v. Allison, 908 F.2d 1531, 1538 (11th Cir.

1990) (finding no Batson violation where “[t]he prosecutor struck

three black jurors[ but] he also struck two white jurors”).

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 41 of 62

23-13321 LUCK, J., dissenting 7

C. The Reasons for Striking Juror Davis as Compared to White

Jurors

As a third relevant circumstance that the Alabama Supreme

Court had to consider, the majority opinion compares Juror Davis’s

“vague answers about pretrial publicity” during voir dire to the an-

swers “two white jurors—Lisa Burch and Peggy McFarlin”—gave

about pretrial publicity. Juror Burch and Juror McFarlin “also did

not remember in detail what they heard,” the majority opinion ex-

plains, which “suggests that the vagueness of [Juror] Davis’[s] an-

swer was only pretextual because [Ms.] Brooks did not strike [Juror]

Burch or [Juror] McFarlin.” But Juror Davis’s voir dire answers

were not the same as the answers given by Juror Burch and Juror

McFarlin. Looking at the voir dire shows the difference.

Here was Juror Davis’s voir dire answers to the court’s ques-

tions about pretrial publicity:

The court: Your name, please?

Juror Davis: Eric Davis.

...

The court: Have you heard or read from any

source anything about these cir-

cumstances that we’re here today

on?

Juror Davis: I’ve heard a little something.

The court: Okay. Have you heard or read or

from any other source gained

any information as to whether or

not this defendant was guilty or

not?

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 42 of 62

8 LUCK, J., dissenting 23-13321

Juror Davis: Now, I had heard something.

The court: You haven’t?

Juror Davis: I had heard something.

The court: What did you hear and where

was it from?

Juror Davis: Oh, I just, um, it was something

in the newspaper or something.

The court: Well, what did you hear in the

newspaper or read in the newspa-

per?

Juror Davis: Well, I just, you know, just heard

talk about what they had heard in

the newspaper or something like

that. I didn’t read it for myself.

The court: From somebody you heard?

Juror Davis: Um-hum, yes.

The court: When did you hear that?

Juror Davis: It’s been a while back.

The court: About how long ago?

Juror Davis: Several months ago.

The court: Several months ago. Did you

hear specifically about this de-

fendant right here?

Juror Davis: No.

The court: Okay. Do you remember what

you heard?

Juror Davis: Not exactly.

The court: Can you remember it for me the

best you can?

Juror Davis: Um, the only thing I recall is just,

you know, um, listening at some

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 43 of 62

23-13321 LUCK, J., dissenting 9

of the guys, you know, that said

they had read about it, you know,

the incident out on Troy High-

way, stuff like that, you know,

what had happened and so forth,

you know.

The court: Okay. Do you feel like you’d be

able to put aside whatever you

had heard some of the guys say

about what they had read and lis-

ten to the facts as they come to

you in [c]ourt and based on those

facts and those alone make a fair,

honest, conscientious impartial

decision on guilt and non guilt

based on those facts and the law

as instructed to you by the

[c]ourt?

Juror Davis: Yes, I can.

Compare Juror Davis’s voir dire answers to Juror Burch’s an-

swers to similar questions:

The court: What’s your name, please?

Juror Burch: Lisa Burch.

The court: Ms. Burch, have you heard or

read or do you have some

knowledge about the circum-

stances of this case?

Juror Burch: A while back. I mean, I heard it

on the news, but it was, you

know, just briefly.

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 44 of 62

10 LUCK, J., dissenting 23-13321

The court: Have you ever heard or read or

from any source gained any in-

formation as to whether or not

this defendant was guilty or not

guilty?

Juror Burch: No, uh-huh.

The court: Okay. Do you feel like you’d be

able to put whatever you may

have heard or read—News source

is the only source you have, that

you may have heard?

Juror Burch: Um-hum, just on the news.

The court: Do you feel like you’d be able to

put that aside and listen to the

facts in [c]ourt and make a fair,

just, and impartial determination

of this case based on the facts as

you hear ’em in [c]ourt and the

law as instructed to you by the

[c]ourt?

Juror Burch: Yes, sir. I really can’t even re-

member in full detail what I

heard at that time.

And Juror McFarlin’s answers:

The court: Your name, please?

Juror McFarlin: Peggy McFarlin.

...

The court: Have you read or heard some-

thing about this matter?

Juror McFarlin: In the paper.

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 45 of 62

23-13321 LUCK, J., dissenting 11

The court: Okay. Have you read or heard an-

ything about it, or from any

source gained any information as

to whether or not this defendant

was guilty or not guilty?

Juror McFarlin: I don’t remember. This hap-

pened about a month or two ago,

didn’t it? I’m not sure.

The court: Well, do you remember hearing

or reading anything about

whether or not this defendant,

Michael Sockwell, was guilty or

not guilty?

Juror McFarlin: I can’t—I don’t remember. I just

barely remember the story, but I

don’t remember how it ended.

The court: Okay. So, are you telling me—

Juror McFarlin: I don’t know what—

The court: Do you have any opinion toward

whether or not this defendant

would be guilty or not guilty

right now from any source?

Juror McFarlin: I don’t really know what the story

was really about, really. I just

read a little bit of it in the paper

and I don’t know what he’s done.

The court: Well, whatever you’ve read, do

you think like you’d be able to

put it aside and listen to the facts

as you hear ’em in [c]ourt and

based on those facts as you hear

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 46 of 62

12 LUCK, J., dissenting 23-13321

them in [c]ourt and the law as in-

structed to you by the [c]ourt

make a fair, impartial, and just de-

cision in this case.

Juror McFarlin: I think I could.

The court: Okay. Thank you.

Juror Davis’s answers about pretrial publicity were not the

same as Juror Burch and Juror McFarlin’s answers. Juror Davis, for

example, gave vague answers about where he heard information

regarding the murder-for-hire scheme. He initially testified that he

“heard something.” Only when pressed by the trial court did he

say that he heard about the crime from “the newspaper or some-

thing.” Then later, when pressed again by the trial court, Juror Da-

vis testified that he was “listening at some of the guys” and “heard

talk about what they had heard” but “didn’t read it for” himself.

Juror Burch and Juror McFarlin, on the other hand, were clear from

the get-go about where they heard information on the case. Juror

Burch told the trial court that she heard information about the

murder “on the news.” And Juror McFarlin testified that she read

about the scheme “[i]n the paper.”

Juror Davis also initially gave a vague answer about what he

heard regarding Sockwell’s participation in the murder-for-hire

scheme. At first, Juror Davis said he “had heard something” about

“whether or not this defendant was guilty or not.” Then he later

changed his answer to say that he heard nothing “specifically”

about Sockwell. But Juror Burch and Juror McFarlin did not flip-

flop their answers when asked about what they knew about

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 47 of 62

23-13321 LUCK, J., dissenting 13

Sockwell’s involvement in the murder. Juror Burch told the trial

court “[n]o” when asked the same question whether she heard or

read “any information as to whether or not this defendant was

guilty or not guilty.” And Juror McFarlin testified that she had “just

read a little bit of it in the paper” and “d[id]n’t know what [Sock-

well]’s done.”

D. Ms. Brooks’s Response About the Strike After Sockwell’s Bat-

son Objection

As a final relevant circumstance, the majority opinion points

to this snippet from Ms. Brooks’s response to Sockwell’s Batson ob-

jection: “[Juror] Davis, according to my notes, is a black male, ap-

proximately twenty-three years of age, which would put him very

close to the same race, sex, and age of the defendant.” This snip-

pet, the majority opinion says, “supports that [Ms.] Brooks felt as if

[Juror] Davis would be partial to [Sockwell] because of their shared

race.” But the majority opinion overlooks the context of Ms.

Brooks’s explanation and the rest of the voir dire.

Turning to the rest of the voir dire, after Sockwell made his

Batson objection, the trial court called on Ms. Brooks to explain her

reasons for using her peremptory challenges. In her response, Ms.

Brooks went through each struck veniremember, giving the veni-

remember’s race, sex, and, sometimes, age, and then explaining her

reasons for the strike. The pattern was clear. Here was Ms. Brooks

explaining her first strike, giving the race and sex of the venire-

member and then her reason for the strike:

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 48 of 62

14 LUCK, J., dissenting 23-13321

[T]he [s]tate’s first strike was juror number ninety-

four. She was a white female. Primary reason for

striking her was she was opposed to the death penalty

under any circumstances, generally opposed, she’s

opposed, it was possible she could do it but it was also

possible she would be impaired and it would be real

hard. In addition, she was dressed in a sweatshirt, ex-

tremely casually.

Here she was explaining her second strike, giving the race, sex, and

age of the veniremember and then her reason for the strike:

We struck as our second strike number one oh eight,

a black male, eighty-one years old, according to our

record. The [c]ourt might recall when he came into

individual voir dire he sat at the end of the table and

the [c]ourt said something to him and he looked up

and couldn’t find the [c]ourt, and the [c]ourt said here

I am, over here. He also did not understand the

[c]ourt’s questions about the death penalty. He said

he might give it under certain facts but he was gener-

ally opposed.

Here’s her third strike doing the same thing: “The [s]tate struck

juror number one twenty-two, a white male. The primary reason

because he said he was opposed [to the death penalty] under most

circumstances, he would have to think about it, possibly he could

give it. Our challenge for cause was denied as to him.” And her

fourth:

We struck number thirty-three next. Mr. Clayton was

a black male. Our records indicate in February of ’79

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 49 of 62

23-13321 LUCK, J., dissenting 15

a fraud based on insufficient funds, in ’86 a harass-

ment conviction, in ’86 criminal trespass, and he said

under the death penalty question he was opposed un-

der any circumstances, that he opposed it in general

and that he didn’t really think he could give it. We

struck him for those reasons.

And so on the pattern went for each juror she struck.

Ms. Brooks used the same pattern for Juror Davis as she did

for the other challenged jurors:

Okay. Mr. Davis, according to my notes, is a black

male, approximately twenty-three years of age,

which would put him very close to the same race, sex,

and age of the defendant. He had said to the [c]ourt

he had heard a little something. The [c]ourt ques-

tioned him further and he finally said well, I heard it

from the paper or something. The [c]ourt questioned

him further. He was very vague and unclear in his

answer. The [c]ourt asked him more about it and he

said well, some people were talking about it. I didn’t

actually read it. He could not remember what had

been said nor anything about—anything further

about those. His answers to the death penalty did not

give me a lot of clues either way as to how he felt. In

fact, I think the words he used were I could go either

way.

Reading the voir dire as a whole, as we must, Ms. Brooks

didn’t mention race as the reason for striking Juror Davis. She men-

tioned Juror Davis’s race, sex, and age, as she did for the other chal-

lenged jurors—white and black—to describe and identify the

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 50 of 62

16 LUCK, J., dissenting 23-13321

veniremember for the trial court before she gave her reasons for

the strike.

2. The Alabama Supreme Court Did Not Ignore the Four Relevant Cir-

cumstances

“After carefully reviewing the record as it relates to the pros-

ecutor’s preemptory strikes,” the Alabama Supreme Court found

that the strike of Juror Davis was not based on purposeful discrim-

ination. Sockwell II, 675 So. 2d at 42. The majority opinion does

not afford AEDPA deference to this finding because it agrees with

Sockwell that the Alabama Supreme Court “ignored” the four rel-

evant circumstances. But the majority opinion is wrong. The Ala-

bama Supreme Court considered all the relevant circumstances in

making its finding, as it was required to do as part of Batson’s third

step.

In his brief on appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court, Sock-

well relied on the same four relevant circumstances he proffers

here. First, Sockwell cited Ms. Brooks’s history of peremptory

strikes: the Alabama appellate courts had “condemned this same

prosecutor personally for racially discriminating against [black] ve-

nire[]members in criminal trials through her use of peremptory

strikes.” Second, Sockwell listed the statistical evidence: the “use

of peremptory strikes against black venire[]members was highly

disproportionate to their representation in the venire.” Third, he

compared the reasons Ms. Brooks gave for striking Juror Davis to

two white jurors: the “claim that she struck Juror Davis even in

part based on the vagueness of his recollection of pretrial publicity

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 51 of 62

23-13321 LUCK, J., dissenting 17

is undermined by the fact she declined to challenge two white ve-

nire[]members who also evidenced uncertainty or confusion about

what they had heard or read about Mr. Sockwell’s case.” Fourth,

Sockwell discussed Ms. Brooks’s response to his Batson objection:

Ms. Brooks admitted “that she struck Juror Davis because he was

black.”

The Alabama Supreme Court did not ignore Sockwell’s brief

and the four relevant circumstances. First, it “carefully reviewed

the record” and “the extensive briefs from Sockwell and the

[s]tate.” Id. at 39. Second, the Alabama Supreme Court cited the

statistical evidence and the strikes of other black veniremembers.

See id. at 40–41. Third, the court reviewed the voir dire testimony

of white veniremembers who were not struck from the jury and

compared it to the testimony of black veniremembers who were

challenged. Id. at 40–42. Fourth, it discussed Ms. Brooks’s re-

sponse to Sockwell’s Batson objection and “consider[ed] the entire

context of the prosecutor’s explanation.” Id. And fifth, the Ala-

bama Supreme Court emphasized that it had “thoroughly consid-

ered each issue Sockwell ha[d] raised,” “independently searched the

record for reversible error,” and “consider[ed] the applicable law as

it relates to the facts of this case.” Id. at 42.

What the Alabama Supreme Court did was more than

enough. State courts are not required “to show their work in Bat-

son determinations by mentioning every relevant circumstance.”

King, 69 F.4th at 869. “This no-grading-papers, anti-flyspecking rule

stems from the presumption that state courts know and follow the

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 52 of 62

18 LUCK, J., dissenting 23-13321

law and [AEDPA’s] highly deferential standard for evaluating state-

court rulings, which demands that state-court decisions be given

the benefit of the doubt.” Id. (cleaned up).

Thus, “[a] petitioner must do more than prove the state

court failed to mention evidence in order to prove that the state

court failed to consider that evidence.” Id. (quotation omitted). He

must show the state “court clearly limited its review to some cir-

cumstances and did not implicitly review the circumstances [the

petitioner] proffers.” Id. (quotation omitted). Where the state

court’s opinion “does not specifically address each of the argu-

ments advanced by [the petitioner], we cannot assume that the

court failed to consider all of the arguments [the petitioner] pre-

sented.” Trawick v. Allen, 520 F.3d 1264, 1267 (11th Cir. 2008).

Sockwell did not do more than prove the Alabama Supreme

Court failed to mention each of the relevant circumstances he prof-

fered, which is not enough to show an unreasonable application of

Batson. Sockwell does not argue that the state supreme court

clearly limited its review to some circumstances and did not implic-

itly review others. And there’s nothing in the Alabama Supreme

Court’s opinion suggesting that it did not consider all the relevant

circumstances.

To the contrary, the Alabama Supreme Court explicitly ad-

dressed the bulk of the relevant circumstances Sockwell proffered.

And the court made clear that it “thoroughly considered each issue

Sockwell ha[d] raised,” Sockwell II, 675 So. 2d at 42, which included

the four relevant circumstances. We don’t have to presume the

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 53 of 62

23-13321 LUCK, J., dissenting 19

state supreme court considered the circumstances cited by Sock-

well. The Alabama Supreme Court explicitly told us that it did.

3. Fairminded Jurists Could Conclude that the Strike of Juror Davis

Was Not the Result of Purposeful Discrimination

The majority opinion does not give AEDPA deference to the

Alabama Supreme Court’s no-purposeful-discrimination finding

for a second reason: “a reasonable and fairminded jurist could not

have considered” the four relevant circumstances “and concluded

that Batson was not violated.” But when faced with the same four

relevant circumstances as Sockwell has proffered here—separately

and together—we have held that reasonable and fairminded jurists

could conclude that there was no Batson violation.

Beginning with Hightower v. Schofield, 365 F.3d 1008 (11th Cir.

2004), cert. granted, judgment vacated, 545 U.S. 1124 (2005), opinion

reinstated sub nom. Hightower v. Terry, 459 F.3d 1067 (11th Cir. 2006),

the statistical evidence in that case showed the prosecutor used

more than eighty-five percent of his strikes—six of seven—to chal-

lenge black veniremembers; “the prosecutor had in the past shown

a bent and scheme to keep down the low number of blacks on ei-

ther the grand jury or regular panels,” id. at 1031 (quotation omit-

ted); and “the prosecutor did not strike white jurors who were as

lukewarm on the death penalty as the black jurors he struck,” id. at

1034. The Georgia Supreme Court determined that the “trial judge

was not clearly erroneous in finding that the prosecutor had artic-

ulated legitimate non-racial reasons for his challenges, and that the

prosecutor had not in fact discriminated.” Id. at 1033 (quotation

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 54 of 62

20 LUCK, J., dissenting 23-13321

omitted). Applying AEDPA deference and reviewing all the rele-

vant circumstances, we concluded that the state supreme court’s

finding did not “run afoul of federal law.” Id. at 1035.

Next, in McNair v. Campbell, 416 F.3d 1291 (11th Cir. 2005),

“the district attorney’s office that handled [the] prosecution ha[d] a

history of racial discrimination.” Id. at 1310. The petitioner pro-

vided a “list of cases in which convictions obtained by this district

attorney’s office ha[d] been reversed or criticized on the basis of

Batson.” Id. at 1312. Even with this relevant circumstance, the state

court found that the strikes of black veniremembers “were not ra-

cially motivated.” Id. at 1311. Applying AEDPA, we could not

“conclude that the state court decision was based on an unreason-

able determination of facts in light of the evidence presented to the

state court.” Id. at 1313.

Then, in Valle, the state used more than eighty-eight percent

of its peremptory strikes—eight of nine—to strike minority jurors

(“six blacks and two Hispanics”). 459 F.3d. at 1212 (quotation omit-

ted). Despite the statistical evidence, the Florida Supreme Court

found that the petitioner “failed to show that it is likely the chal-

lenges were used in a racially discriminatory manner.” Id. at 1213

(quotation omitted). Applying AEDPA deference, we concluded

that the Florida Supreme Court’s determination was “not contrary

to, nor an unreasonable application of, clearly established federal

law.” Id.

Trawick involved a slightly different Batson challenge based

on gender discrimination. 520 F.3d at 1266. There, statistical

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 55 of 62

23-13321 LUCK, J., dissenting 21

information showed that the prosecutor used almost eighty per-

cent of the peremptory strikes—eleven out of fourteen—on

women; the prosecutor’s office had a “history of discrimination in

peremptory strikes,” id. at 1267; and “two women stricken from

the venire offered similar answers to men who were chosen for the

jury in response to a single question regarding media exposure,” id.

at 1268. Still, “review[ing] the record and based thereupon,” we

could not “say that the Alabama Supreme Court’s ultimate conclu-

sion was contrary to or involved an unreasonable application of

federal law.” Id. at 1269.

Parker v. Allen, 565 F.3d 1258 (11th Cir. 2009), like Hightower,

McNair, and Valle, involved a more traditional race-based Batson

challenge. The statistical evidence in Parker showed that “the pros-

ecution struck eight of nine qualified black venire[]members”—

more than eighty-eight percent. Id. at 1267. The prosecution said

it was striking those eight veniremembers because: of their “gen-

eral opposition to the death penalty”; they had “taken psychology

classes or training”; they “were related to someone who had been

charged with a crime”; and they “had a series of traffic offenses and

arrests.” Id. at 1267–68 (quotations omitted). But “[e]ight of the

eleven white seated jurors were, however, related to someone who

had been convicted of a felony, had taken a psychology course, . . .

or had been convicted of more than one traffic offense.” Id. at

1268. Even so, the state court “did not find that there was a signif-

icant disparate treatment of the venire[]members with the same

characteristics.” Id. at 1270 (cleaned up). After reviewing “the state

court’s application of the law, acceptance of the prosecutor’s stated

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 56 of 62

22 LUCK, J., dissenting 23-13321

reasons for his strikes, and consideration of the differences in the

situations of the stricken and seated jurors,” we agreed that “the

state court reasonably applied Batson.” Id. at 1272.

In Greene v. Upton, 644 F.3d 1145 (11th Cir. 2011), the prose-

cutor struck a black veniremember who “had a cousin with a co-

caine problem,” but did not strike white jurors who “knew people

or had relatives who had taken drugs.” Id. at 1156. The prosecutor

struck a black veniremember who “failed to return to court for jury

selection,” but did not strike two white jurors who “also failed to

appear on the first day of jury selection.” Id. And the prosecutor

struck a black veniremember “who really wouldn’t have anyone to

take care of her child,” but did not strike a white juror who had

child-care issues because “her husband worked out of town.” Id.

(cleaned up). Applying AEDPA deference, we concluded that “the

record supports the Batson determinations of the Supreme Court

of Georgia.” Id. at 1155.

In Wellons v. Warden, Georgia Diagnostic and Classification

Prison, 695 F.3d 1202 (11th Cir. 2012), the prosecutor used peremp-

tory strikes to remove seventy-five percent—three of four—of the

black veniremembers. Id. at 1207. And, although the prosecutor

struck three black veniremembers because of their views about the

death penalty, the petitioner “point[ed] to four hesitant [white] ju-

rors that despite their hesitancy about the death penalty were se-

lected for the jury.” Id. The Georgia Supreme Court found that

the prosecutor did not purposefully discriminate in striking the

black veniremembers. Id. “Considering this record,” we

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 57 of 62

23-13321 LUCK, J., dissenting 23

concluded, “it was not unreasonable for the Georgia Supreme

Court to find that [the petitioner] did not prove purposeful discrim-

ination by the state.” Id. at 1208–09.

In Madison v. Commissioner, Alabama Department of Correc-

tions, 761 F.3d 1240 (11th Cir. 2014), we acknowledged as “strong,”

“[r]elevant factors supporting purposeful discrimination” that:

“the prosecutor peremptorily struck 6 of 13 eligible black jurors”;

“[t]he prosecutor refused to give reasons for his strikes at trial, de-

spite being asked to do so . . . .”; and “the Mobile County District

Attorney’s Office[ had a] well documented history of racially dis-

criminatory jury selection, including at [the petitioner’s] first trial.”

Id. at 1252. Yet, we held that the district court’s finding that the

prosecutor did not engage in purposeful discrimination was a

“plausible[] view of the evidence.” Id. at 1255.

Perhaps the closest case to this one is King. King had the

same four relevant circumstances: a history of prior peremptory

strikes based on race; statistical evidence showing a disproportion-

ate exclusion of black veniremembers; striking black veniremem-

bers who gave the same voir dire responses as white jurors who

were not struck; and a prosecutor’s racially charged response to a

Batson challenge.

As to the history of prior peremptory strikes, earlier in the

petitioner’s trial, when the prosecutor struck a black veniremem-

ber, “[t]he trial court concluded that” the prosecutor’s “proffered

reason for striking” the black veniremember “was not credible and

ruled that this strike was unconstitutional under Batson.” Id. at

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 58 of 62

24 LUCK, J., dissenting 23-13321

881–82 (Wilson, J., dissenting); see also id. (Wilson, J., dissenting)

(“[J]ust as a prosecutor’s discriminatory strikes in other cases can

suggest they acted discriminatorily in this case, a finding of discrim-

inatory intent within the same trial is also probative.”). As to the

statistical evidence, after the prosecutor used all of his strikes, eight

percent “of the jurors were black (i.e., only one black juror) and”

ninety-two percent “were white (i.e., eleven white jurors).” Id. at

883 (Wilson, J., dissenting). As to the disparate treatment of black

and white jurors, the prosecutor struck a black veniremember be-

cause she was a minister, but the prosecutor did not strike a white

veniremember who also was a minister. Id. at 872. And the prose-

cutor struck black veniremembers who had connections to the pe-

titioner’s family, but he did not strike white jurors who also had

connections to the petitioner’s family. See id. at 872–73. Finally, in

his response to the petitioner’s Batson objection, the prosecutor

“show[ed] his hostility and disdain for having to comply with Bat-

son.” Id. at 882 (Wilson, J., dissenting). His “rants demonstrated

. . . that he was reluctant to abide by the requirements of Batson”

and he “would continue to violate Batson if it weren’t for the en-

forcement mechanisms put in place by the courts.” Id. (Wilson, J.,

dissenting). Still, despite these four relevant circumstances, we con-

cluded that “[t]he Georgia courts reasonably applied Batson when

they rejected [the petitioner’s] remaining objections.” Id. at 873.

* * * *

To summarize, even where the petitioner proves as a rele-

vant circumstance that there was a history of peremptory strikes

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 59 of 62

23-13321 LUCK, J., dissenting 25

based on race, in Hightower, McNair, Trawick, and Madison, we held

that a fairminded jurist could conclude that the strike of a black

veniremember was not the result of purposeful discrimination.

And even where the petitioner proffers statistical evidence as a rel-

evant circumstance that the prosecutor engaged in a pattern of

strikes against black veniremembers, in Hightower, Valle, Trawick,

Parker, Wellons, and Madison, we explained that a fairminded jurist

could conclude the peremptory challenge of a black veniremember

was not based on race. And even where the petitioner shows as a

relevant circumstance that the prosecutor struck a black venire-

member based on one characteristic that was shared by a white ju-

ror who was not struck, in Hightower, Trawick, Parker, Greene, and

Wellons, we concluded that a fairminded jurist could find that there

was no purposeful discrimination. And even where the petitioner

shows the prosecutor didn’t give a valid reason for striking the

black veniremember in response to the Batson objection, in Madi-

son, we concluded that a fairminded jurist could find no Batson vi-

olation. If fairminded jurists in Hightower, McNair, Valle, Trawick,

Parker, Greene, Wellons, and Madison could find no purposeful dis-

crimination even with these relevant circumstances, then the Ala-

bama Supreme Court could make the same finding with the same

2

circumstances.

2

Other than King, the majority opinion does not meaningfully engage with

these “troublesome” cases. That’s understandable given that, in each case, we

concluded fairminded jurists could find no purposeful discrimination despite

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 60 of 62

26 LUCK, J., dissenting 23-13321

King had all four circumstances, and each one was more rel-

evant to the Batson inquiry than Sockwell proffers here. First, Sock-

well alleged that Ms. Brooks had a history of making race-based

peremptory challenges in other cases. But, in King, the prosecutor

had a history of making a race-based peremptory challenge in the

petitioner’s case. The King prosecutor was found to have

“instances upon instances of prosecutors purposefully striking huge swath[s]

of [b]lack jurors and flimsy reasons for striking those [b]lack jurors.”

Instead, in a single sentence inside a single footnote, the majority opinion says

that “none of th[e]se cases involved [1] a direct comparison of the defendant

to a stricken [j]uror and [2] a state supreme court calling out the prosecutor by

name and the office for serial Batson violations.” But Sockwell’s case also did

not involve a direct comparison to Juror Davis. As the Alabama Supreme

Court found, Ms. Brooks’s “opening remark,” “given the context of the entire

exchange,” “was merely a descriptive identification of the veniremember

based on the prosecutor’s notes.” Sockwell II, 675 So. 2d at 40. This finding is

presumed correct. See King, 69 F.4th at 867.

And we called out by name the prosecutor and district attorney’s office for

serial Batson violations in Hightower and Madison. In Hightower, defense

“[c]ounsel presented a newspaper article about State v. Amadeo, a case which,

they claimed, arose out of a memo” which “Hightower’s prosecutor, Joseph

Briley had admitted to being the author of,” and “which detailed a purpose

and plan to limit the number of African-Americans serving on grand juries.”

365 F.3d at 1031 & n.46 (quotations omitted). And, in Madison, we noted as a

“[r]elevant factor[]” “the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office’s well-doc-

umented history of racial discriminatory jury selection, including at Mr. Mad-

ison’s first trial.” 761 F.3d at 1252. (McNair and Trawick also called out district

attorney’s offices for serial Batson violations, but not by name.) Despite these

relevant factors, we concluded that fairminded jurists could find the prosecu-

tors’ strikes were not based on purposeful discrimination.

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 61 of 62

23-13321 LUCK, J., dissenting 27

purposefully discriminated against a black veniremember minutes

before he struck more black veniremembers.

Second, even after Ms. Brooks used her peremptory chal-

lenges, black jurors still made up about seventeen percent of the

jury. But, in King, after the prosecutor went through his peremp-

tory strikes, there were less black jurors—only eight percent—serv-

ing on the jury.

Third, while Ms. Brooks struck Juror Davis but not Juror

Burch and Juror McFarlin, Juror Davis gave vague and inconsistent

answers about where he heard information on the murder-for-hire

scheme and about what he heard as to Sockwell’s participation in

the scheme while the other two jurors did not. Yet, in King, the

prosecutor struck a black veniremember who served as a minister,

but not a white juror who served as a minister. And he struck black

jurors who had connections to the petitioner and his family, but not

white jurors who also had connections to the petitioner and his

family.

Fourth, in response to the petitioner’s Batson objection,

Ms. Brooks described Juror Davis’s race, age, and sex, and com-

pared them to Sockwell’s race, age, and sex, before explaining her

reasons for using a peremptory challenge on Sockwell. But, in King,

in response to the petitioner’s objection, the prosecutor “rant[ed]”

about “his hostility and disdain for having to comply with Batson,”

which demonstrated “that he was reluctant to abide by the require-

ments of Batson” and that he “would continue to violate Batson.”

King, 69 F.4th at 882 (Wilson, J., dissenting).

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 62 of 62

28 LUCK, J., dissenting 23-13321

In other words, with the same four circumstances as this

case—each one more relevant for the Batson inquiry than here—we

concluded in King that the “Georgia courts reasonably applied Bat-

son.” Id. at 873. If the Georgia Supreme Court in King could find

no purposeful discrimination with these four relevant circum-

stances, then we cannot conclude, as the majority opinion does,

that “[n]o reasonable and fairminded jurist could have considered

all relevant circumstances and still found no Batson violation.” It’s

hard to see how we could apply AEDPA deference to the Georgia

court’s finding in King but not to the Alabama Supreme Court’s

finding here.

4. Conclusion

Each premise of the majority opinion is flawed. The four

relevant circumstances are not as relevant as the majority opinion

says they are. The Alabama Supreme Court considered all the rel-

evant circumstances proffered by Sockwell as required by Batson.

And a fairminded jurist could find that there was no purposeful dis-

crimination. Because the majority opinion’s refusal to give AEDPA

deference to the Alabama Supreme Court’s no-purposeful-discrim-

ination finding is not supported by the facts and the law, I respect-

fully dissent.